TIBURCIO TANCINCO MEMORIAL INSTITUTE

OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Calbayog City

GRADUATE SCHOOL

SUBJECT : Research
INSTRUCTOR : Dr. Remedios Tomnob
TOPIC : Computer Search of Related Literature
REPORTER : Donald M. Patimo
COURSE : Master in Public Management
SCHOOL YEAR : 2003 – 2004
SEMESTER : 1st Semester

Internet – a global network that connects more that tens of thousands of networks,
millions of large multiuser computers, and tens of millions of users in more than
100 countries.

World Wide Web (WWW) – an Internet server that offers multimedia and hypertext
links.

Multimedia Applications – computer applications that involve the integration of text,

sound, graphics, motion video, and animation.

Hypertext – data management software that provides links between key words in the
unstructured text-based documents.

CHARACTERISTICS OF THE WORLD WIDE WEB

1. estimated to contain more that two billion pages of publicly-accessible

information
2. web lacks the bibliographic control standards we take for granted in the print
world
 no equivalent to the ISBN to uniquely identify a document
 no standard system of cataloguing or classification
 many, if not most, Web documents lack even the name of the author
and the date of publication
3. therefore, the need is clear to familiarize yourself with a variety of search
tools and to develop effective search techniques

The two (2) basic approaches to searching the Web are the following:

1. Search Engines
 allow the user to enter keywords that are run against a database based on a
combination of criteria (established by the user and/or the search engine).
 retrieves WWW documents from its database that matches the keywords
entered by the searcher.
 while all search engines are intended to perform the same task, each goes
about this task in a different way, which leads to sometimes amazingly
different results. Factors that influence results include the size of the
database, the frequency of updating, and the search capabilities.
 differ in their search speed, the design of the search interface, the way in
which they display results, and the amount of help they offer.
  best used to locate a specific piece of information, such as a known
document, an image, or a computer program, rather than a general subject.

META Search Engines

 often referred to as multi-threaded search engines
 allow the user to search multiple databases simultaneously, via a single
interface
 most of the multi-threaded engines are very fast
 useful features as the ability to sort results by site, by type of resource, or
by domain, the ability to select which search engines to include, and the
ability to modify results

SUBJECT-SPECIFIC Search Engines

 focus on searching for Web sites or pages within a defined subject area,
geographical area, or type of resource.
 offer a useful starting point for certain searches. The table below lists
some of the subject-specific search engines by category.

2. Subject Directories
 hierarchically organized indexes of subject categories that allow the Web
searcher to browse through lists of Web sites by subject in search of
relevant information.
 compiled and maintained by humans and many include a search engine for
searching their own database.
 subject directory databases tend to be smaller than those of the search
engines, which mean that result lists tend to be smaller as well.
 best to searching for information about a general subject, rather than for a
specific piece of information.

SPECIALIZED Subject Directories

 a guide compiled by a subject specialist to important resources in his or
her area of expertise is more likely than a general subject directory to
produce relevant information and is usually more comprehensive than a
general guide.
 many of these sites offer reviews and annotations of the subject
directories included and most work on the principle of allowing subject
experts to maintain the individual subject directories.

SEARCH ENGINES

o AltaVista (http://www.altavista.com)
o Excite (http://www.excite.com/search)
o alltheweb (http://www.alltheweb.com)
o Google (http://www.google.com)
o HotBot (http://hotbot.lycos.com)

META SEARCH ENGINES

o Metacrawler (http://www.metacrawler.com)
o Ixquick (http://www.ixquick.com)
o SurfWax (http://www.surfwax.com
o Dogpile (http://www.dogpile.com)
o ProFusion (http://www.profusion.com)
 SUBJECT-SPECIFIC SERCH ENGINES

o Beaucoup! (http://www.beaucoup.com)
o Search Engine Colossus (http://www.searchenginecolossus.com)
o Searchengines.com (http://www.searchengines.com/)

Table of selected subject-specific search engines:

Regional (Canada) Companies

 AltaVista Canada
(http://www.altavistacanada.com)
 Excite Canada
(http://www.excite.ca/)
 Yahoo! Canada
(http://ca.yahoo.com/)
Regional (Other)
 Geographically specific search
engines (Beaucoup):
o Americas
o Asia/Australia/Middle
East/Africa
o Europe
 Advice for investors
(http://www.adviceforinvestors.com)
 Hoover's Online
(http://www.hoovers.com/)
 InfoSpace Canada
(http://www.infospace.com/canada/inde
x_ylw_ca.htm)
 Wall Street Research Net
(http://www.wsrn.com/)
 WorldPages
(http://www.worldpages.com/)

People (E-mail addresses) People (Postal addresses & telephone

 Bigfoot (http://bigfoot.com/)
 InfoSpace Canada Email Search
(http://www.infospace.com/canada/
email1.htm)
 WhoWhere?
(http://www.whowhere.lycos.com)
 Yahoo! People Search
(http://people.yahoo.com/)
numbers)
 Bigfoot (http://bigfoot.com/)
 Canada 411
(http://canada411.sympatico.ca)
 InfoSpace Canada People Finder
(http://www.infospace.com/canada/inde
x_ppl_ca.htm)
 Switchboard.Com
(http://www.switchboard.com)
Images Jobs
 The Amazing Picture Machine  +Jobs Canada
(http://www.ncrtec.org/picture.ht
m)  Monster.ca (http://www.monster.ca/)

 Lycos Multimedia  Monster.com

(http://multimedia.lycos.com/) (http://www.monster.com/)

 WebSEEk  Canada Job Bank

(http://www.ctr.columbia.edu/web (http://www.jobbank.gc.ca/)
seek/)
 The Riley Guide
 Yahoo! Picture Gallery (http://www.dbm.com/jobguide/)
(http://gallery.yahoo.com/)

Games Software
 Games Domain  Jumbo (http://www.jumbo.com)
(http://www.gamesdomain.com/)
 Shareware.com
 GameSpot (http://shareware.cnet.com/)
(http://gamespot.com/gamespot/)
 ZDNet Downloads
(http://www.zdnet.com/downloads/)

Health/Medicine Education/Children's Sites

 Achoo (http://www.achoo.com/)
 BioMedNet
(http://www.bmn.com/)
 Combined Health Information
Database (http://chid.nih.gov/)
 MayoClinic.com
(http://www.mayohealth.org/)
 MEDLINEplus
(http://www.nlm.nih.gov/medline
plus/)
 AOL NetFind Kids Only
(http://www.aol.com/netfind/kids/)
 Blue Web'n
(http://www.kn.pacbell.com/wired/blue
webn/)
 Education World
(http://www.education-world.com/)
 Kids Domain
(http://www.kidsdomain.com)
 KidsClick! (http://www.kidsclick.org/)
 Yahooligans!
(http://www.yahooligans.com)

SUBJECT DIRECTORIES

o LookSmart (http://www.looksmart.com)
o Open Directory (http://dmoz.org)
o Yahoo (http://www.yahoo.com)
o Yehey (http://www.yehey.com)

SPECIALIZED SUBJECT DIRECTORIES

o Argus Clearinghouse (http://www.clearinghouse.net)

o About.com (http://about.com)
o WWW Virtual Library (http://www.vlib.org)
o Voice of the Shuttle (http://vos.ucsb.edu)
o Internet Movie Database (http://us.imdb.com)
 SEARCH STRATEGY

1. Formulate the research question and its scope

2. Identify the important concepts within the question
3. Identify search terms to describe those concepts
4. Consider synonyms and variations of those terms
5. Prepare your search logic - a way in which you, and the search engine you are
using, combine your search terms

Boolean logic is the term used to describe certain logical operations that are used to
combine search terms in many databases.

BOOLEAN OPERATORS

AND

OR

NOT

PROXIMITY OPERATORS

o Near
o Adjacent
o Followed by

SPECIAL OPERATORS

o + sign to require that a search term be present

o - sign to exclude a term from a search
o * useful for retrieving variant spellings (eg. color, colour) and words with
a common root (eg. psychology, psychological, psychologist,
psychologists, etc.)
INDEPENDENT CHALLENGES

Exercise 1 - Search Engines: Select one topic from the list below. Use at least
two different search engines to search for information about your topic. Compare
the results you retrieve from each. When comparing your results, consider the
following points, among others:
o How easy or difficult was it to figure out how to search?

o Was there adequate documentation to help you formulate your search?

o How many results did you retrieve?

o What proportion of the results were relevant to your perceived information

requirements?
o How current were the results?

o Was the amount of detail displayed with the results adequate?

o Was the order in which the results were displayed evident and/or logical?

o What other features contribute to (or detract from) the search engine's
utility?

Suggested topics:

1. Internet
2. Mad Cow Disease
3. The Beat Generation
4. Tupac Amaru
5. Microbreweries

Exercise 2 - Multi-threaded search engines: Use a multi-threaded search engine

to search for information about the topic you researched in Exercise 1. Compare
your results with those you retrieved with an individual search engine. Also
consider the same points as you did above.
Exercise 3 - Subject directories:
(a) Browse the Yahoo subject categories (do not use the search function) to find
information about the topic you researched in Exercise 1. Assuming you were
able to find some relevant information (it is possible that you will not), consider
the following points:
 o Which of the two methods - search engines or subject directories - do you
consider was more successful or more appropriate? Why?
o What are the advantages and disadvantages of each method?
(b) Use Yahoo's search form to search for information on the same topic as you
did in (a).
o Which method of searching Yahoo was more successful? Why?

o How does searching Yahoo differ from searching a large search engine
database?
(c) Browse and/or search a clearinghouse of specialized subject directories to see
if there is a subject directory relevant to your topic. If so, peruse it to see if it
would be useful for finding information on your topic.

Exercise 4 - Test your skills: Choose a topic that interests you, or one from the
list below. Use one or more tools of each type discussed above to search for
information about your topic. Try to incorporate some or all of the following into
your searches:
o Experiment with both simple and advanced interfaces

o Read the search tool's documentation for instructions on how to search

o Use Boolean logic, proximity operators, wildcard characters and phrase

searching
o Use one or more of the search tips discussed above

o Where applicable, use a search engine's "more like this" feature to

generate new searches
o Try different methods of displaying results, including sorting where
applicable

Suggested topics:
1. What is the relationship between Mad Cow Disease and Creutzfeldt-Jakob
Syndrome?
2. Is it possible to infect your computer's hard drive with a virus by running
programs over the Internet that use the Java programming language?
3. Is there any information on the Internet on Canadian microbreweries, brew
pubs, or brew on premises shops?
4. I am hoping to see the movie The Sweet Hereafter. I would like to find
reviews of the movie, any information about the novel on which it was based,
and biographical information about the movie's director, Atom Egoyan.